Every morning, soon after 6am, they gather in the caravan, writes Michael Clifford. They have a rota, sorting out who can come on which mornings. As the dawn breaks across the Midlands, the light goes on in the caravan, the kettle is boiled, news of the day is exchanged.

The Irish company that imports coal from a Colombian mine accused of human rights abuses has recorded revenues of €2.3bn.

Firefighters from two stations continue to deal with an incident at the ESB's power generating station at Moneypoint in West Clare.

A number of local bodies have joined forces to promote six deepwater marine investment opportunities along the Shannon Estuary.

Greenhouse gas emissions in key trading sectors rose last year, despite falls across the rest of Europe.

The construction of flood defences for one of the most flood-prone zones in Cork city centre is being fast-tracked amid criticism of ongoing delays on the Lower Lee flood relief scheme.

The RNLI have released footage of yesterday's rescue of three fishermen off the coast of Cork.

ESB full-year results published yesterday show operating profit fell by €132m in the year amid tough conditions caused partly by lower prices.

A warmer-than-expected winter has helped offset some of the crisis premiums that Russia’s annexation of Crimea might have placed on the price of gas.

Twice as tall as Ireland’s tallest building — Cork’s 17-storey Elysian tower — and now also set to be taller than Dublin’s needle-like Spire, are each of Cork’s harbour’s just emerging, elevated wind turbine hubs and spinning vanes, all in the vicinity of Ringaskiddy.

Locals in a Clare town were described as being “wild with excitement” following news that Wednesday night’s Lotto jackpot was won in the town.

The Government is facing bills of over €46m from Clare and Kerry councils for the damage caused by the storms that ravaged the counties.

Electric Ireland has appealed Clare County Council’s refusal of planning permission for a giant €30m windfarm with turbines more than 100ft taller than Dublin’s Spire.

Planning permission has been refused for a giant €30m windfarm with turbines that stretch up to 500ft high.

Despite early indications that a repeat of the previous two weeks’ unseasonal lack of wind would once again threaten to interrupt the league programme, the ASM Frostbite Series continued on Sunday at Kinsale Yacht Club.

LOCAL authorities in the mid-west are ‘aflutter’ over state plans to designate the entire lower Shannon estuary a special protected area for birds such as the black-tailed godwit and redshank.

THE four main local authorities in the midwest are coming together to harness the potential of the Shannon estuary and to identify sites for future development.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI will name his Irish squad for next month’s friendly against Croatia on Friday, when he and Marco Tardelli attend the FAI’s Festival of Football in Clare on the eve of the association’s AGM in Ennis.

THE ESB’s power station at Moneypoint in Co Clare has admitted that it breached its pollution control licence 17 times so far this year and that the incidents were not reported to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

AND so they have finally wiped out the sky. Stargazers lament. The strobe-like light atop the new TV mast at Mullaghanish near Ballyvourney in Co Cork must be the worst case of light pollution I have ever witnessed.

RESIDENTS who live near an ESB power station had their houses and cars covered in an ash residue.

A RECORD 1,120 megawatts of Ireland’s electricity needs were generated by wind on April 5, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association.

THE wind energy sector has warned that Ireland is looking increasingly unlikely to meet its target of providing 40% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 unless greater price stability is provided to operators.

YESTERDAY Environment Minister John Gormley said he believed climate change is the most fundamental and far-reaching challenge facing humanity.

Ireland’s carbon footprint could be slashed by locking emissions from power stations into empty gas fields under the sea, an official report claims today.

MORE than 1,200 tractors took part in a rally against EirGrid’s proposals to build overhead electricity pylons in counties Monaghan, Cavan and Meath.

IRELAND is on course to renege on its greenhouse gas obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, according to emissions figures released yesterday.

ELECTRICITY bills have risen dramatically over the past 10 years, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted yesterday.

The ESB was facing further turmoil tonight after unions voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the Government’s plans for the future of the company.

THE 200 Polish workers who two weeks ago faced losing their jobs at the ESB plant in Moneypoint have been offered the chance to keep their jobs with new employers.

Threatened strike action at the ESB electricity power plant in Moneypoint, Co Clare was narrowly averted tonight after a deal was agreed to pay wages owed to Polish workers.

STRIKE action at one of the ESB’s largest power plants which was deferred in the early hours of yesterday morning, looked like it could be back on last night as the détente between union and employers appeared to be falling apart.

Strike action at the ESB's Moneypoint plant has been deferred for 24 hours to finalise proposals to settle the dispute.

TALKS continued late into last night to try to avert strike action at one of the country’s largest power stations this morning.

Union leaders tonight served strike notice on ESB as a row over pay for Polish workers intensified.

Trade union representatives are claiming that up to 200 Polish workers, employed at the ESB power station at Moneypoint, may not have been paid for as many as six weeks.

SEARCH teams went into a wild sea off the west Cork coast yesterday morning looking for another casualty of the unforgiving waves.

MANY powerful people are, at long last, waking up to the real threat being posed to the world by global warming and consequent climate change. No matter how serious a situation is, human nature remains the same — we don’t start to act until a crisis arises.

Workers at a power station in Co Clare tonight called off a day of protest after a sacked Polish shop steward and other union activists were re-employed at the Moneypoint plant.

The Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union is seeking new laws that would allow trade unions to vet foreign contractors working on projects in Ireland.

UP to 70 Polish workers employed at the ESB power station at Moneypoint are owed an estimated €600,000 in wages after a probe found they were being paid less than a third of the agreed hourly rate.